We’re STILL packing up our apartment.  Currently it looks a lot like this:

And is causing my right upper eyelid to twitch.  And giving me a rash.  It is chaos and I’m trying my best to embrace it all.   Painfully.

My beautiful friend, Sandi, sacrificed a morning (kid-free!) to come and help me pack our bedroom.  This is a vulnerable and humbling experience that can only be endured by the most kind of friends.  The mystery of what-lurks-under-the-bed is an adventure unto itself and having an experienced and no-nonsense packer here to push me on towards bedroom-packing success was priceless!

Our dear friends Ham and Carli gifted us with the book The Well Organized Camper.  It is perfect for the occasion and full of useful tips on surviving life in the wilderness.  Only more organized than you would do it.  Lists, guides, advice and other general camping information that tends to raise Josh’s pulse.

We’re also in the midst of applying for jobs in Colorado, setting up interviews, arranging camp sites throughout the Pacific Northwest, reserving some hostels for our free time in Costa Rica and…breathing deeply to remind ourselves that in three or so days, the only things we will have to keep track will be packed neatly into a small 4-door car.   Backpacks, a few days worth of clothing, good books.  A camera.

Tonight we had our last house church.  We’ve been blessed to have such a supportive group of people to pray for us and cheer us on.  These are the people who make it difficult to leave and start over.  I’ve threatened to pack them all in the Uhaul and decorate our new home with them. 

  

We’re learning a lot about interdependence.  How to give.  And then receive. 

 

 

Josh’s LAST day of work (and subsequently as an Air Force officer) was this week!!

  

(from left to right: Josh’s last day in uniform!, Josh celebrating his last day in uniform, Josh with all of the thoughtful gifts his coworkers gave him)

There are a few notable things about this day: we are now both willingly unemployed and today Josh begins the era in his life titled “how long can I go without shaving and getting a hair cut”.  We’ll be sure to share progression picutures (both of our venturesome life of unemployment and of Josh’s declining grooming standards).

So far unemployment has been heavy with planning and plotting.  I’ve been packing our Dayton life into boxes and labeling accordingly.  Josh has been making biodiesel and spending much time nerding(see attached picture). 

 

(left to right: biodiesel, nerding)

Last night Leslie and I sat on the porch with warm tea.  The weekend nightlife hummed in the backgroud and the sky was clear enough to know that there were stars.  Up there.  Just beyond.  It was the first time in recent days I longed for the wilderness, wide open skies, quiet nights of sleeping outdoors.  And space. Being close enough to nature to realize how far you’ve been previously.

 

“That is why we need travel.  If we don’t offer ourselves to the unknown, our senses dull.  Our world becomes small and we lose our sense of wonder.  Our eyes don’t lift to the horizon; our ears don’t hear the sounds around us.  The edge is off our experience, and we pass our days in a routine that is both comfortable and limiting.  We wake up one day and find that we have lost our dreams in order to protect our days. “- KN

Today we send to you a sudden, unplanned nap. Beside an open window. We send to you a bowl of ripe strawberries that stays that way until you are ready to eat it.  Add whipped cream.  A mirror that whispers “you are beautiful”. 

We send you the courage to believe it is true.  

We send to you special tape to hold it all together when you are lost.  Music that takes you back to overwhelming memories.  We send to you a deep breath.  In and out.  Daily prayers and the constancy of love. 

I send to you harder laughter and more tears. He sends you knowledge of your resilience and fortitude. We send to you brand new underwear. One outstanding piano serenade. We send you swing dancing on the front lawn. 

You make up the music.

We’re in a desperate situation.  In no small part due to denial.  We’re having trouble coming to terms with the truth that we need to find a new home for our beloved KITTY (aka Moches).  Although we’re told her many bedtime stories of adventures in Colorado, rain forests in Costa Rica and Machu Pichu in Peru, she’s not convinced she’s up for such a venturesome life.  I, too, agree.  Mostly because she’s been in the car a total of 2 times and both were spent with her clinging to the seat in a long, whiny, unbearable MEOOOW.  An adventurer she is not.

Thus, she needs a new home.  Moches has been a loving and loyal companion and we are sad to leave her behind but if any readers can welcome a new pet into their home (and heart!!), please do let us know. Soon.

 

   

 

Tonight we had a web/phone conference “predeparture” session for our trip to Cuzco, Peru with United Planet. 

With Josh’s work in the Air Force he reportedly participates in many teleconferences (aka “telecons”).  I like to tease him about this.  Sometimes during the work day I’ll call him on the phone to pester him and then dramatically rush to get off the phone, acting busy and important, and say “I gotta run, I have telecons and briefings to do!  I need to brief the general!”   He loves it when I do this.  Especially when he has actual work to get done.  Work that actually pays our bills.  🙂

Anyway, tonight was my first real “telecon”.  It was a pretty neat set-up.  They had probably 8-10 volunteers on a conference call and linked up on the internet to go through a powerpoint and answer questions about our upcoming trips. 

We’re getting more and more excited about our time there in Peru. Josh and I will actually be living with a family and FORCED to use our Spanish.  I’ll be working as a nurse in a local clinic just outside of town and Josh will help run an after school program for street children! 

Ok, more boxes to pack…